Eckhart Tolle is a spiritual teacher who humbly yet profoundly demonstrates living in the awake state, where themind is a tool to be picked up and put down as needed.He gently shows the way to be fully present and access the transformative power of living in the Now.

He moved from Germany to England at the age of 13, where he lived until coming to Vancouver B.C. in 1996. He was a research scholar and supervisor at Cambridge University in England when a profound spiritual transformation virtually dissolved his old identity and radically changed the course of his life. After several years spent understanding, integrating and deepening that transformation, he has become a counselor and spiritual teacher, much in demand in Europe and North America.

He writes and speaks in such a simple way that the realization of the essential aspect of Being-ness is no longer complex or unavailable. His teaching reminds us to utilize the body, the energy body, as a way to access the present moment. He describes the accumulation of past desires and karma as the "pain-body" and demonstrates many ways of detaching from, transmuting, and releasing this pain-body. He speaks to the great opportunities in relationships for discovering the Self. He does so in neutral terms that do not limit one to any lineage, nor do they separate one from any of the ancient teachings.

His book, The Power of Now, A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment, engages the heart and the mind with both a simplicity and a profound wisdom that speak for themselves:

"When your attention is fully in the Now, problems dissolve instantly. You accept what is. If a situation requires action, you act. If there is nothing you can do, you leave it alone."

"To meet everything and everyone through stillness instead of mental noise is the greatest gift you can offer to the universe. I call it stillness, but it is a jewel with many facets; that stillness is also joy, and it is love."

"Humanity is under great pressure to evolve because it is our only chance of survival as a race. This will affect every aspect of your life and close relationships in particular. Never before have relationships been as problematic and conflict ridden as they are now. As you may continue to pursue the goal of salvation through a relationship, you will be disillusioned again and again. But if you accept that the relationship is here to make you conscious instead of happy, then the relationship will offer you salvation, and you will be aligning yourself with the higher consciousness that wants to be born into this world. For those who hold to the old patterns, there will be increasing pain, violence, confusion, and madness."

"If there is no joy, ease, or lightness in what you are doing, it does not necessarily mean that you need to change what you are doing. It may be sufficient to change the how. 'How' is always more important than 'what.' See if you can give much more attention to the doing than to the result that you want to achieve through it. Give your fullest attention to whatever the moment presents."

"To offer no resistance to life is to be in a state of grace, ease, and lightness. This state is then no longer dependent upon things being in a certain way, good or bad. It seems almost paradoxical, yet, when your inner dependency on form is gone, the general conditions of your life, the outer forms, tend to improve greatly. Things, people, or conditions that you thought you needed for your happiness now come to you with no struggle or effort on your part, and you are free to enjoy and appreciate them - while they last. All those things, of course, will still pass away, cycles will come and go, but with dependency gone there is no fear of loss anymore. Life flows with ease."

"Only you can do this. Nobody can do it for you. But if you are fortunate enough to find someone who is intensely conscious, if you can be with them and join them in the state of presence, that can be helpful and will accelerate things. In this way, your own light will quickly grow stronger. When a log that has only just started to burn is placed next to one that is burning fiercely, and after a while they are separated again, the first log will be burning with much greater intensity. After all, it is the same fire. To be such a fire is one of the functions of a spiritual teacher."

Eckhart Tolle will be speaking in Portland on Tuesday, May 23rd at Unity Church, 4525 SE Stark, at 7 p.m. Admission is $20 for those who preregister, $30 at the door (if available.) To register call or write to Reva Aver, (503) 223-2451, 4440 SW Corbett, Suite 202, Portland, OR 97201.